WINDHOEK – The ministry of education said it was not overly happy with the performance of this year’s grade 12 Namibia Senior Secondary Certificate (NSSC) higher level candidates, saying they did not meeting their expectations.
However, deputy minister Anna Nghipondoka was quick to point out that every year is a new opportunity for learners to work towards a better future.
Nghipondoka called upon roleplayers in the education fraternity to redouble their efforts in ensuring the ministry meets its set targets.
A total of 20 605 candidates sat for the examination comprising of 18 649 full-time and 1 956 part-time learners at 170 full-time and 85 part-time registered centres across the country.
Nghipondoka said in 2019, 91,4 percent full time candidates who entered for NSSC higher level subjects obtained a grade 4 or better when compared to 94,2 percent in 2018.
Nghipondoka said this means that 8.6 percent of the total entries were ungraded if compared to 5,8 percent in 2018. Based on the ungraded subject entries, this performance represents a drop of 2, 8 percent compared to 2018. She said most institutions of higher learning require a grade 3 or better in NSSC higher level subjects for admission.
“On that basis, 61,0 percent of the subject entries in 2019 have this minimum requirement compared to 66,7 percent in 2018. The percentage of candidates having obtained a grade 3 and better in 2019 represent a drop of 5,7 percent when compared to 2018,” stated Nghipondoka.
She said the part-time higher level candidates obtained 77,3 percent graded subjects, which represents a drop of 8, 2 percent from 85, 5 percent in 2018. Similarly, female candidates performed better than their male counterparts with 92,6 percent compared to male learners who achieved 89,9 percent graded entries.
In total, 10 083 from 15 637 female candidate entries got grade 3 and better grades representing 64,5 percent compared to 7 173 from 12 654 male candidate entries who are graded 3, representing 56, percent. The deputy minister explained that learners can be advised and guided by the teachers to select appropriate levels according to their potential and historic performance over the years.
“It is thus imperative that the teachers and learners determine the appropriate level of entry for the NSCC-ordinary level and NSCC-higher level examinations. Allowing learners to enter at higher level just to score a four grade, is in most cases the contributing factor to these poor performances at higher level, notwithstanding the fact that all roleplayers are required to work hard to achieve good results,” she said.
She added that it has become a trend at some schools to enter most, if not all the candidates at higher level in some subjects.
“Imagine a school with 200 candidates all entered at higher level all scoring only four or ungraded,” she stated. Nghipondoka implored teachers to teach the whole syllabus content and prepare learners to be able to answer questions posed from different angles based on the board understanding.